Going Home
by N.V.9
Summary: Naruto, Haku, and Sai are three shinobi part of no village as they join thousands of others to win the war. One day, while resting, they wake up and nothing is the same. The only question is where did they end up?
1. Chapter 1

**1**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

Three shinobis ran nonstop for three days straight. Not once did any one of them think to stop and rest. They had a mission to complete and in order to makes sure they succeeded, they needed to get to their destination as quickly as possible.

Their mission was simple. Deliver scrolls from one camp to the next. If the enemy was to get their hands on what they carried, all of the planning would have been for naught. It took three days to get from one place to another. So far they had already ran to seven camps and rested for one hour before they were sent to the next camp. Only one more and they could go home. Home to the first camp. Now a days, no one had a home to call their own. None would have a home until the war was over. Hopefully by then, the enemy would fall and they would once again live in peace.

"Almost there." Haku said from the lead position. With those words ringing through their heads, they used the last of their energy to run faster. By the time they made it to the camp entrance, they were met by another shinobi.

"When the sun rises the moon follows, hoping to hold it's runaway love." the masked man said.

"But the sun follows the moon for the exact same reason. Forever will they run to the other and never meet." Haku answered back.

The shinobi nodded. "What word do you bring?"

"A scroll from the other seven. Each one added so that the next would know what was going on." Haku said motioning toward Naruto. Naruto pulled another out of his pocket and bit his thump. Placing the blood print against the paper, the needed scroll was free.

"I believe this is what you are looking for." Naruto bowed handing it over to the masked man.

"Will you rest?" the shinobi asked them, taking the scroll as if it was made of glass.

"Yes." Sai answered with a forced smile.

Snapping his fingers the masked man called forth another shinobi, "Take them to the rest-tent." with that he was gone.

The girl bowed her head, her head band showing her loyalty to a village that no longer existed, like all the others. "I am Matsuri, please follow me."

Naruto, Sai, and Haku nodded to each other before following the girl.

"You were part of Sunagakure?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." the girl nodded sadly, "It fell right after our Kazekage disappeared."

"I heard that he might have fallen in battle." Sai said.  
"No!" Matsuri yelled glaring at him. "Gaara-sama was one of the best. He would not fall to anyone!"

"Do you have word of Temari or Kankuro?" Haku asked trying to change the subject.

"They are no more," Matsuri said sadly, wiping at her tears, "Mistress Temari and Master Kankuro were found ten moons ago. I had hoped they left with Gaara-sama, but they met the fate of another ending."

Not wanting to think about their own missing and dead shinobi, Naruto said, "Where are we resting?"

"This way." Masturi said, clearing her throat and standing taller.

Shaking their heads at Sai, who only shrugged, the three followed the girl to a tan tent. With a nod, the girl was gone leaving them to rest.

"Is it weird that I can no longer remember what our missing shinobi look like?" Sai asked laying on one of the mats, not even bothering to remove his weapons. They were always needed. No one was stupid enough to take them off at all.

"No... I must confess I can't remember what Zabuza-sama looks like either. Many times I forget his name all together." Haku whispered sadly. "Am I evil because of this?"

"No Haku... I don't think anyone remembers what the missing shinobis look like anymore. It's been ten years since they all disappeared. I was twelve, I lost all but one...What did they call us, Sai?" Naruto asked coming up blank for the name of what his group was once called. When he was part of Konoha, the last village to fall to war, sending everyone looking for shelter elsewhere. Many people that he knew and some he rarely spoke to disappeared one night and were never found. At first everyone thought they were missing nin but when other villages sent reports that they to had lost shinobi, many of them very loyal shinobi, the world knew something was wrong. Only days later did village after village fall to the hands of Madara Uchiha and his followers.

The shinobi that were still alive from all the villages called a truce, each all fighting for a common goal. Even as more shinobi disappeared without a trace, and children were forced to grow up and learn faster, they still fought.

"Rookie 9... I never met them, well save for Hinata." Sai said before falling asleep.

"Rookie 9... It's been so long since I've thought of them. I wonder if Hinata remembers them? I'll ask her when we meet up again with her." Naruto yawned. "Good night."

"Good night." Haku whispered back.

A few hours later Matsuri came back to the tent with a tray of food. When she opened the flap, she gasped. "No." She whispered before running back to find the captain of the camp. "Captain they're gone!"

: G : H :

It was a loud noise that woke all three shinobi. Each stood up quickly thinking that one of Madara's pets had attacked the camp.

"What is this?" Sai asked confused, letting his weapon fall to his side. "Is this a genjutsu?"

"I've never seen one such as this... None of it looks familiar." Haku said looking around. Instead of a camp in the middle of the mountains, they were in some sort of forest, but this forest was small. Trees were everywhere but between them all, was an open field of grass and walk ways. Beyond the trees, on all sides, the walk ways ended at buildings as tall as clouds, with so many windows, any missing nin could enter without anyone knowing.

Children ran and played while others walked by completely, ignoring them or dismissing them after a glance. All of the people wore odd clothing. None of the articals they saw on them or that they carried seemed fit to save them in war.

Naruto crossed one hand in front of the other and yelled "Release!" but nothing changed. "If it's a genjutsu it is a strong one. I can't break free."

"Allow me to try, I am better at breaking free." Haku said. But still nothing changed.

Before either of the three could say anything a voice called from behind them.

"What? Did the circus come to town?" at the sound of the male's voice all three turned quickly and got into a fighting stance.

"Wow...are you guys like into kung fu stuff?" the same male asked looking as surprised as the other ten that stood around him, his brown hair going wild about his hair.

"Who are you?" Haku asked, his hand resting over the pouch that held his senbon. "Are you part of Madara's followers?"  
"What's Madara?" a blond female asked.

"Is she joking?" Sai demanded, looking at them like one would a bug.

"I believe she is serious." Naruto answered, standing up straight.

"So what are you idiots supposed to be?" one of the other male's asked them, his raven locks falling about his own face.

Naruto snarled and attemepted to attack the raven only to be held back by Sai and Haku. "Let me go! I'm going to kill him!"

"No, they are not shinobi." Haku stated calmly, looking at the newcomers standing back with shocked and worried expressions on their face.

"How do you know?"

"Because no shinobi would wear such pathetic clothing in a battle." Sai smiled a fake smile.

"Did he just diss us?" a female with buns on her head asked.

"I think he did." The first male growled. "Listen-"

"Can you tell us where the mountains are?" Haku asked, letting Naruto go when he saw that the blonde would not attack.

"There are no mountains in the city." The blond female giggled as the others either laughed or grinned, relaxing when Naruto put his kunai away.

Naruto, Sai, and Haku shared a look before Naruto asked, "Where are we?"

"Konoha." The raven said.

At this the three blinked in shock. Konoha? But it fell...

"What year is this?" Haku asked.

"Are you serious? We're in the twenty-first century."

"What?!" Naruto said shocked. "We can't be in another century! We are in the process of fighting a war!"

"What are you guys on?" the raven asked, surprised.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

"This isn't good," Naruto whispered looking around, "If this is how the world looks now does this mean Madara won?"  
"Or lost, they don't seem to be under any type of control." Sai whispered moving to Naruto's side as they both looked at everyone walking around. "Or they are so used to it that this is normal."

"Either way we need to get home." Naruto said. "How did we get here?"

"Last I remember we fell asleep."

"Could this have happened to the others?" Naruto asked stopping the other two from forming any other words. "I mean, they suddenly disappeared, so perhaps what happened to them is now happening to us."  
"So is everyone going to come to the future then?" Sai demanded angrily. "Maybe if we knew where we are at, we'll have a better chance of getting home."

"We could go higher." Naruto suggested.

"Wait," Haku stopped them, looking around. "What if we aren't in the future?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto frowned. "Where else would we be?"

"Another world. One similar to ours but not." Haku answered. "What if we are in another place completely?"

"A paralle world?" Sai said after staring at Haku. "Do you think?"

"If it were the future, wouldn't they have known what and who Madara was? One doesn't forget history such as that or him. Every war before our time is taught to us by older shinboi, surely it is still the same. And I see nothing that states Madara is a high king."

"We'll have to look more into this." Naruto answered for them. "First we need to see our surroundings and to do so means we must get higher."

All three glanced up toward the trees around them. "Which one is higher?"

"That one." Sai pointed toward a tree closer to the center.

"Or we could climb that glassed building." Haku suggested causing the other two to turn.

"They are taller and we will get a better glimps of this world." Naruto nodded.

"Are you guys done being mysterious?" one of the girls asked, her pink hair fluttering slightly with the wind, "Or do you need more time?"  
"Can I kill her?" Naruto asked glaring fiercly at the girl causing her to gulp and hide behind another.

"Dude relax, no need to get your panties in a twist." the boy that interrupted first said.

"What are your names?" Haku asked as Sai and he once again held Naruto back.

"What are your names?" Another male asked, his expression wary. He must have been the leader of the group, with the way he was standing before them all, watching them for any signs of an attack.

"Let me kill them." Naruto begged, reaching for his weapons.

"No." Haku said, "I'm team leader of this squad, I say we befriend them."

"And if they try to kill us?" Sai questioned.  
"We kill them first." Haku stated. Turning to the other people he bowed, "I am Haku, this is Sai and that is Naruto. May we have your names?"  
"I'm Itachi, that's Ino, Tenten, Lee, Shino, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, and Sakura. Pleased to meet you."

"Lovely... Can we go?" Naruto asked already itching to be rid of these weaklings.

"If you will excuse us, we must be off." Haku bowed again and turned to leave with the others behind him.

"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked.

"There." Haku pointed to the tall building.

"Why?" Ino moved to walk beside him, ignoring the tense shoulders of the other two, she smiled, "Why go there? Is someone waiting for you there?"  
"No, we need to see what we are up against." Sai stated moving away from the group following them. "I'll go up ahead."

"No, let me. I can't stand crowds." Naruto said, and before anyone could stop him, he jumped into the trees and took off.

"Holy shit!" Kiba yelled as the others behind him blinked in shock or jumped. "How the hell did he do that?"

"That's child's play." Sai smirked innocently. "Anyone, even a child, should be able to do that."

"Normal people can't do that." Neji argued. "Is he coming back?"

"Eventually." Haku answered. "Sai do not answer or speak. In fact, go with Naruto."  
"But you would be alone." Sai argued.  
"If they can't run in the trees, what makes you think they could take me on?" Haku lifted his brow.

"Understood," Sai bowed before following Naruto into the trees.

"You have to teach me that." Kiba begged, moving to stand in front of Haku. "Come on, show me!"

"Jump and run, it's as simple as that." Haku shrugged his shoulders as he walked on.

"I don't think simple is any part of what you can do." Itachi said moving Kiba aside to walk beside Haku. "There's nothing simple about it at all."

"We grew up doing this. From the time we could walk, most of us were forced to learn. The war is not helping us at all. It makes children as young as a year old grow up as we train the next generation of shinobis."

"Ninjas? You're ninjas?" Sasuke asked. "Ninja's aren't real."  
"Then your theory is wrong for I am a _shinobi,_ and so are the other two." Haku stopped to face them. "Why is it so hard to believe? We come from a time of war and yet there is no war anywhere I see. Instead there are people laughing and joking as those things go by." he added pointing toward a moving object.

"That's a bus." Tenten said. "What war? There hasn't been a war for a while."

"It is the Fourth Shinobi war and it is barely getting started, even if it has been going on for years." Haku answered quietly. "What did you see?"

Everyone turned to look where Haku was staring.

"There are lots of those glass buildings as far as the eye can see." Naruto answered, jumping down from the tree. "Sai is getting a higher look."

"The bird?" Haku said, speaking of Sai's transportation.

"Yes, I think there are other shinobis as well. We saw more birds in the sky, but they don't look like Sai's."

"What do you mean?"

"They are made of metal and are bigger then any bird I have ever seen. Sai's is tiny compared to it. They also have windows as well."

"Did they see you?" Haku questioned already preparing a plan of attack.

"No, we hid behind a metal machine on the roof of the building. What will you have us do?" Naruto asked just as Sai landed beside him as he seemed to fall from the sky.

"Are you alright?" Haku asked when Sai looked around.

"I don't know. Those birds up there... there are many!"

"Birds? Those are planes." Ino said. "What Naruto described are planes. How is your leg not broken?"

"Why would my leg break?" Sai said at the same time Naruto asked what a plane was.

"First a plane carries people from one place to another. It's faster then walking or driving. Second, you just fell from the sky and you're still standing!"

"Are all people of this century this annoying?" Naruto wondered. "We are shinobi. We are trained to land correctly, to fight correctly, to run correctly, climb walls, use jutsus, evade, hide, and plan correctly."

"What's a jutsu?" Choji asked.

"Haku, I ask that we leave so that we can find our way home!" Naruto yelled angrily. "They are stupid and they know nothing. We have no time to answer every question they have to ask. We are fighting a war!"

"I know, but without knowing where we are, we can't leave. It is better to have allies then enemies."

"Not if they are all like this." Naruto gestured toward the group.  
"No need for the hateful words." Kiba pouted. "We could help you know."

"How?"  
"We could-"

"Give you shelter, food, and water." Itachi said quickly. "You can stay with us."  
"You all live together?" Sai asked, unsurprised since the war of their time had forced the same on them as well.

"Yes, we don't have family. We're all orphans and Itachi took us all in." Sakura said. "Because of him we can all go to school."

"How old are you?" Sai asked. "You speak as if you're children."

"In a way we are." Shikamaru shrugged. "Everyone but Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Itachi is twenty one. Neji, Tenten, and Lee are twenty-two and Itachi is twenty-five."

"You call that children." Naruto laughed. "I am twenty two. Haku is twenty four, and Sai is twenty two. We were all left without a parent at very young ages, some of us were even almost killed by said parents. We are already adults. Anyone that can protect themselves is an adult. At fifteen Haku took over mine and Sai's squad becoming our team leader. We haven't had an 'adult' for ten years."

"You all still need a parent to keep you safe? That is sad." Sai smiled. "I've never had a parent. I've been trained since I could walk. We all have."

"That is cruel." Tenten said, "Children shouldn't be forced to fight-"  
"If they wish to live, they fight. There are no parents only teachers." Haku interrupted her. "If you will allow us, Itachi, we will take up your offer."  
"WHAT!" Naruto snarled clenching his fist.

Everyone watched as Naruto and Haku had a silent debate. Finally Naruto bowed his head and turned away. "Lead the way Itachi." He hissed.

"Come on, we can take the train." Itachi nodded moving toward the main road.

Naruto, Haku and Sai walked behind the group of 'children' as Sai named them. "We will respect them Naruto." Haku said.

"Why?"

"They are like a village as well. They have their soliders and Itachi is their leader."

"He's like the Hokage." Sai said nodding. "We must respect the Hokage."

"But the Hokage needs to know how to fight." Naruto argued when the group moved below the earth.

"Perhaps he does." Haku answered somewhat cautiously as they descended behind Itachi and his family, "We do not know him well enough."

"The Hokage is the strongest. A child from our time is stronger then he is." Naruto looked around as he reached for a weapon.  
"Be that as it may, Itachi is still their Hokage. We will respect him." Haku said, ending the arguement and shaking his head.

Sighing, Naruto releashed his kunai back into it's pouch and continued. What was this train and where was it?

"We do not have to like it, but it is the way things are." Sai whispered before they all heard a loud screeching noise.

"I'll pay for all of us." Itachi said, leading them to revolving metal bars. Moments later Naruto was watching in awe as the train appeared before them. Soon after, he was seated next to Haku as the train moved out slowly.

"Why is it taking so long? I could walk faster." he grumbled. Though he was curious about the train, he wasn't going to appear stupid by asking about it.

"It makes a lot of stops." Sakura shrugged. "This is better anyways. We live pretty far from the city, so a taxi would be expensive."

"I bet we could run faster and get there before they do." Naruto grumbled again. Haku hid a smile and nodded.

For the next forty minutes the train stopped and then went, six times. Each time people would get off and others would get on. Shino said they were only four stops away from theirs.

At the next stop a group of guys wearing baggy clothing got on. Immeditaly Naruto noticed Itachi's group had tensed up and moved closer together. Meeting Haku's eyes, he gained a nod letting him know he too, saw what happened. Sai shifted from across from them, his eyes glued to the newcomers.

"Well, well look at what we got here." one of the men said. "It seems we have freaks and losers aborad with us."

"Hey beautiful, care to dance with me tonight?" another asked latching on to Sakura's waist.

"Let her go." Itachi demanded pushing the man off of her.

"Looks like we made daddy bear mad." Another laughed.

Naruto noticed that other people, not part of their group or the baggy clothes group, were moving to another part of the train. Weaklings. Cowards seemed to be everywhere, and none deserved to live. Cowards killed or sold out others to stay alive. He hated them.

"Back off, we don't want any trouble." Itachi's voice echoed off the now empty room.

"But we do." The first guy said, "You always seem to pick up strays, Itachi. What will losing a few hurt if you can just replace them?"

"You won't touch them." Itachi glared as the girls moved farther away from the other group and Sasuke, Shino, Lee and Kiba moved in front of them as the rest moved beside Itachi.

"Then I guess I'm just going to have to use force." The man laughed.

"That is no way to speak to the Hokage." Naruto growled from his seat.

"What?"

"You respect the Hokage, and bow before him. You do not threaten him nor do you threaten his people."

"What the hell is a hokage?" the man questioned moving a step back when Naruto stood. "What are you, some kind of moron?"  
"I am Naruto Uzumaki. I am a guest of the Hokage and you will not disrespect him in front of me."

"Nor me." Haku said standing at the same time Sai stood.  
"Wow aren't you a pretty one." The man grinned looking Haku up and down. "Care to play?"

"Leave." Haku said dangerously, his eyes causing the man to stumble back.

"You don't tell me what to do!"

"Then I'll show you." Sai said pulling his scroll free.

"No, this is to small to fight in." Haku said.

"Fight with paper and a paint brush?" another man said as the rest laughed cruely before reaching for Haku. "This is enough, you are coming with me-"  
"Don't touch my team leader." Naruto snarled like an animal as he grabbed the man. Raising his head he let them see the red eating away the blue in his eyes. He let them see the whiskers grow along with the fangs and claws. "Touch my team leader or the Hokage, and I will kill you as I've done to others that hurt what I hold dear." he grinned looking more and more like an animal.  
"Man let go!" the guy screamed trying to break free. "Let go!"

"Naruto." Haku said when the blonde's grip tightened. "Release him. We will not fall to their levels."

"Yes, Haku." Naruto said throwing the man into his people and smirking as they fell to the floor. Wanting to scare them more he growled and laughed cruely as they ran like scared animals. Slowly his features returned to normal and he was once again himself.

"Holy shit." Kiba said in awe as he watched Naruto take his seat again. "Man you are my idol."

"For scaring scum?" Naruto questioned. "I guess there are people like them in every century."

"It is good that you have the Kyuubi no Kitsune under control, or else I'd have run to." Sai said as the others slowly took their seats again and watched Naruto.

"Stop staring or I'll kill you too." Naruto grumbled.  
"Naruto..." Haku sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

"This is it." Itachi said watching the newcomers for their reaction to their home. "It's not much, but we're slowly working on it."

"Then you need more work." Sai gave them his fake smile that always unerved everyone. "This looks like a place I would not even glance twice upon if I were an animal. It is falling apart and that side of the roof is caving in. The windows are all in bad need of repair and the paint is chipping. The stairs are barely holding on. The area around the house is terrible and this is just the front."

"Tell us how you really feel." Neji glared.

"If you insist. I think-"

"Enough." to everyone's shock it was Naruto that stopped Sai. "We must respect the Hokage's home, even if it is not the best out there. It is a rule we all live by and honor." turning to Itachi he bowed his head. "We will help you fix your home and make it one that any Hokage will wish to live within."

"Uh, thanks." Itachi said feeling confused. Why did they keep calling him the Hokage and what did that mean?

"Where do you sleep?" Sai asked and then quickly added, "I'm curious." When everyone turned to glare at him.

"In the back on the right." Sasuke answered. "It's the only side we have that's liveable. The old man that gave this to Itachi, allowing us to stay with him and off the streets, only fixed one side and blocked everything else off. He said he was one person using the giant house and so didn't need the rest of it."

"So when we moved in," Sakura said taking over, "We took that wing of the house. This whole place has over thirty rooms and bathrooms. A kitchen on each side along with a living room, dining room, and a library. Since half the wing is fixed up we all double up and share. Sasuke shares with Itachi. Shikamaru shares with Choji. Kiba shares with Shino. Neji shares with Lee. Tenten shares with Ino and me."

"That is not good. The Hokage must have his own quarters." Sai frowned. "I doubt Sasuke could keep him safe and is not a fit guard."

"What the hell!" Sasuke glared at the insult. He could protect his brother if needed. Sure Itachi always put himself in front of all dangers, but Sasuke could do the same.

"Shall we proceed into your home?" Haku asked, kindly smacking Sai on the back of his head.

"Where are we sleeping?" Naruto asked when they began to walk around the building.

"You can bunk in one of our rooms." Kiba grinned. "Naruto you can share with me."

"I have a feeling I will be talking more then sleeping." Naruto stated.

"Most likely. He and Lee keep everyone up with their constant chattering. If you share his room he would talk until tomorrow night." Neji said.  
"But my youthful friend, our nightly talks are so enjoyable." Lee smiled blinding white teeth.

"He reminds me of Gai." Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Put him in green and he could be his double." Sai whispered.

"Haku can share with us." Ino said latching on to his arm.

"You will be okay with that?" Haku asked slightly confused. "Sharing with me? If it is a problem, we can find our own-"

"It's fine. We can have girl night!" Sakura giggled.

"Girl night?" Haku paled as Naruto and Sai broke out laughing.

"They think you are a woman." Sai gasped out between laughs.

"Why is that funny?" Tenten asked watching all three of them. "If you are saying Haku is no more a woman then we are because she's the boss of you two-"

"Haku is not a girl." Naruto said, when Haku had only paled more at Tenten's words. "He is a man. He only looks like a girl."  
"You're not a girl?" Itachi said, causing everyone but Sai and Naruto to run their eyes up and down his body.

"You have better hair then I do." Tenten said.

"And a better figure then me." Sakura got out.

"You are way hotter then all three of us!" Ino shouted not wanting to believe that a guy had the looks she always wanted.

"I am a male and have been since I was in my mother's womb." Haku said flushing.

"Are you sure?" Choji asked shocked. Heck he was developing a crush on Haku. Did that make him gay? He only checked out girls before, but Haku had any girl he had ever thought beautiful, beat.

"I am quite sure, yes." Haku said forcing a strained smile.

"Don't worry I thought he was a girl too." Sai smiled. "I tried to pick him up when we first met."

"And despite that Haku is clearly a boy, you still try to pick him up." Naruto pointed out.

"As if you never tried." Sai shot back.

"He's good on the eyes." Naruto shrugged his shoulders uncaring of what was being said.

Sasuke immediatly perked up at this. Not because Naruto was saying he liked Haku, but because Naruto was basically saying he was gay or bi. Whichever. Before Sasuke thought he wouldn't have a chance with the hot toned blonde but now, anything could happen.

"So now that that's settled and Haku will, in fact, not be sharing a room with the girls," Sai said. "Where do we sleep?"

"You can sleep with us." Shino said ignoring Kiba's protesting and 'I want to share with Naruto!'

"Naruto can share my room!" Sasuke said quickly before anyone else could claim the blonde. Everyone lifted their brow at this but said nothing to his glare.

"Haku can share with us." Neji blushed a little at this and completely missed Itachi's and Choji's frowns.

"Thank you." Haku bowed to Neji.

Once inside, Sasuke grabbed a hold of Naruto's arm and dragged him off to show him his room. Shino motioned for Sai to follow him and Haku followed Neji. The rest after a brief look between all of them went upstairs to bed.

: G : H :

The next morning Sasuke woke and looked quickly at the floor to where Naruto was supposed to be. He tried to be generous and let Naruto share his bed but Naruto declined and chose the floor. Pouting and annoyed Sasuke went to bed, thinking of another startagy that showed he was interested without being too forward.

Now it was morning and Naruto was gone. With a gasp he threw his blankets off and went to his brother's bed. "Itachi! Itachi wake up!" Sasuke shook his shoulder.

"What?" Itachi grumbled trying to fall asleep. "If the house is not on fire, let me sleep. It's... six in the morning, Sasuke, on a Saturday."

"Naruto's gone!" Sasuke said looking around trying to find any clue to where the blonde had went. His eyes immediatly landed on a lone scroll that Naruto had used to 'summon clothes'. Sasuke found it odd that Naruto wouldn't wear anything he gave him, sure it would have been a tight fit, but Sasuke didn't want him to have to sleep in clothes he had been wearing all day. When he went to ask why, Naruto had pulled a scroll from around his waist and opened it. Putting it on Sasuke's bed he unrolled it until he got to a section he wanted before biting his thumb and doing funny hand signs. Next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto had clothes.

"He has to still be here, if that's here." Itachi said getting out of bed.

"Maybe he's hurt or lost or-"

"Calm down little brother." Itachi smirked. "You are too worried over your crush. He's a ninja. I'm sure the toughest guy alive couldn't take him on and think to win."

"Hn." Sasuke glared at his brother, trying in vane to hide his blush.

"Put some clothes on." Itachi said. A few minutes later they were out of their room and going down stairs. It seemed like everyone had the same idea to go to the kitchen because everyone was in their pj's minus Itachi and Sasuke.

"What's going on?" Itachi asked thinking something had happened.

"Sai's gone and so is Haku." Neji said. "We searched the house but they're not in here."

"Gone?" Itachi frowned. Where did Hak- uh, they go? "So all of you are awake?"

"Well, I got up because Haku was gone." Neji said. "Lee followed me and yelled Haku's name over and over waking up the girls."

"I got up because, Kiba jumped on my bed and told me Freaky Sasuke is gone." Shino said.

"Freaky Sasuke?" Sasuke glared at Kiba.

"He looks like you except he creeps me out." Kiba shuddered.

"We got up because Choji got hungry and hates coming down here by himself." Shikamaru yawned.

"Have you checked outside?" Itachi asked.

"No." Neji said quickly and like one they ran to the back door. What they saw shocked them, freezing them in place.

Instead of one Naruto, they saw five. They found Sai on top of a painted bird as he attacked Narut,o and they found Haku dodging Naruto's attacks and attacking or blocking with ice. They watched as Naruto formed some type of light in his hands as he went at Haku. They watched another Naruto do the same to Sai. The remaining three Naruto's used this as a distraction to attack from different angles.

"Did we wake you?" Haku asked calling off his attack. Immediatly four Naruto's disappeared and so did the bird as Sai landed on the ground behind Haku.

"We didn't think that the noise would reach you. We are far from the building." Sai said.

"Well you didn't wake us." Neji said blushing. "We woke up and you were gone. We wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Either way we apologise." Haku bowed his head.

"How did you do that!" Lee shouted running over to them and making circles around all of them. "There were five of you! Ice was flying everywhere! You were on a bird!"

"We were training." Naruto answered with a frown. Why was Lee lifting his arms and looking them over as if they were on display?

"Lee." Sasuke glared, pushing Lee away from Naruto and taking his place. "Knock it off. You don't need to be all over Na-them!"

"I agree." Itachi stated.

"How did you do that?" Kiba asked Naruto, hero worship clearly in his eyes.

"Chakra." Naruto stated as if it were obivious. Why was Sasuke hanging off of his arm? Why was Sasuke glaring daggers at Kiba? He wasn't going to attack Kiba. There was no need to restrain him.

"What's chakra?" Shikamaru asked.

All three Shinobi looked at one another speechless.

"They are helpless." Naruto decided, shaking Sasuke off. With a frown to the raven, Naruto turned away from them. "They are as I said before, forgive me for my insults, but they are stupid."

"What is chakra? You said yourself you travled and came from another time and place." Itachi said turning to Haku. "We don't say anything when you see something here you don't understand. Could you do the same for us? We've explained some of our time to you."

"That is true." Haku acknowledged. "They have been most kind to us."

"We have a reason for not understanding. They do not. They are the future and should know of the past." Naruto argued.

"We are not sure if we are in the future or not, Naruto." Haku said giving Naruto a look that stopped him, "Chakra, is an energy. It allows us to do what you saw moments ago. Chakra is in everyone. In all life forms. It runs through our bodies like... blood. Without chakra we are dead."

"So we have chakra?" Kiba asked hopefully. Naruto held his tongue and gave everyone a leveled look before walking off to train again.

"Yes." Sai nodded watching the blonde attack the tree with more force then necessary. "Otherwise you'd be dead."

"So I can do what you did? What he's doing?" Kiba watched in awe with everyone else as the tree went down and Naruto moved to another. It was a good thing they were all dead otherwise Sai would have had to stop Naruto. He'd seen Konoha fall. He did not wish to relive it.

"Not exactly but close. What I do, I have yet to see anywhere else. Only I can do this. The same is said for Haku except his is a kekkei genkai. Though someone else could use water style, they'll never use it like Haku. Haku also weilds ice and wind styles. Naruto, is a Jinchkriki and wields wind style, a style not many people have, making his technique impossible."

"Not to mention he also has the Sage mode, making him many times stronger then a normal shinobi." Haku added. "Compared to Naruto, we are all weak."

"But Naruto has no desire to lead anyone after watching his sensei and friend die to the hands of one of our enemies at eleven." Sai whispered. "It hit him hard."  
"We should not be discussiing Naruto's life so openingly. It's not our right to tell his secrets." Haku said.

"Could you teach us?" Shino asked.

"Teach you?" Haku blinked in surprise.

"To do what you do, or as close to it as you can show us. If we have chakra surely you can show us." Shino went on.

"I don't know." Haku answered honestly watching all of them light up with hope. "People train at very young ages to become shinobis."

"Why not?" Sai turned to him. "We have no place to be. Maybe this is why we came here."

"How did you come to that?" Haku asked him.  
"Why did we come here? Out of everyone, why us? And why did we meet them? This is fate, as Hinata puts it."

"Hinata speaks in riddles most times." Naruto said coming back to them. "Since the loss of her father and uncle she has closed herself off from the world. It is only her sister that is still part of this world and speaks true. Hinata-"

"She speaks words of wisdom." Sai argued.

"Fate is only an object used when you have no other reason or answer." Naruto said coldly.

"It is part of us!"

"It's nothing to us! We make our own lives, our own choices. If we fall it was because we were too stupid to stay alive. If we are alive it means we were stronger then our opponet."

"Hinata, knows of which she speaks." Sai glared.

"Only because you fancy her, do you believe her words."

"Enough!" Haku commanded stopping both from hurting eachother. "We will not speak of this. Nor will we continue on with this pointless fight."  
"Of course leader-sama." Naruto bowed, trying to control his anger.

"Yes." Sai mimicked him as he watched Naruto with angry eyes.

"So..." Kiba said bringing all of their attention to them. "Can you teach us?"

"No." Naruto answered quickly and left them once more.

"Yes." Haku decided seconds later. "We will train you. Fate or not, we are here and for that reason alone we will help you."

"Naruto knows more jutsus then both of us." Sai stated. "I only studied my own and a few others. You have practiced on your styles and have a vogue idea of others. Naruto made it his mission to find out about as many jutsus as he could after Jiraiya."

"That is true." Haku nodded. "We will teach the basics and hopefully if you catch on, Naruto will be inclined to show you more. His other mentor, Kakashi Hatake, knew over thousands of jutsus. The Third Hokage, his grandfather figure, knew even more. Jiraiya showed him new ones and different ways to use any attack. The Fifth Hokage, taught him quite a bit about her style after her apprentice disappeared. He's trained under powerful senseis." Haku finished, thinking of a long list of people he trained under, many of which were clan leaders. Even after they had become a team of three, Naruto still would disappear for a few days at a time to train and learn. Taking scroll they had found along the way and memorizing them. Naruto was their expert when it came to other kekkei genkais. Haku and Sai had the basics of them. Things that were of importance, Naruto knew exactly how they worked.

"Don't forget the Kyuubi. That fox knows more jutsus and styles then almost every person that taught him. The fox was alive for years and now Naruto can dig into it's mind..." Sai trailed off.  
"Then it's settled." Haku decided, "We'll show you the basics and then beg, force, challenge, threaten, or any other way to get Naruto to show you more. Perhaps he could even show you a way that could make it easier to learn." After all Haku doubted they would love to be trained like Sai was or learn the way Haku did. Naruto had the kindness of teachers and in the beginning, Naruto had trouble with jutsus and everything else that envolved shinobis. He knew first hand how hard it was to learn, and so would have been the better teacher.

"When do we start?" Kiba asked jumping in place.

"Now's as good a time as any." Haku shrugged. "Let's begin."

: G : H :

Naruto watched from one of the many dead trees as Haku and Sai began to show the others how to call their chakra. So far the attempts were terrible and pathetic. He didn't know why the two were teaching them. What good would it do when they went home? They needed to find a way home and help their side win. Madara could not win. He had to fight for his fallen comrads, teachers and... friends. Though the last title was dwiddling down to only a few. It wasn't good to have friends, make attachments when they could die any day...

With a troubled frown, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

Naruto watched every morning for two weeks as his two comrads tried and somewhat accomplished in training their 'students'. He found it amusing that Sai and Haku, both amazing shinobi to begin with, were having troubles with this. Their frustration was building but neither seemed inclined to give up.

He knew Haku was failing to see what he was doing wrong. Haku was a natural talent, he was trying to teach the others the way he learned. They wouldn't understand. Not until they could conqure chakra control and so far they were able to only barely get a grasp on it.

Sai would never get it because, he was trained in the harshest way possible. He was pushing them like he was pushed and it wasn't helping. He saw them trying to combine their teaching, but that wasn't working either.

'Help them' he heard whispered inside his head, Kyuubi sounding as if he were miles away. For the last few days, Naruto had tried to speak to the fox, though he hated doing so just as much as Kyuubi hated speaking to him, to find if he knew anything, but he was having troubles connecting to the fox. The most Kyuubi could do was speak a few words, and even that was a struggle. He knew Kyuubi was there, but a wall was making it impossible to get to him.

"No." Naruto answered as he watched Sasuke curse when he lost concentration.

'Help' Kyuubi said, even as low as he said it, Naruto knew the fox was getting frustrated speaking like this.

"Why don't you pretend we can't talk." Naruto advised Kyuubi. "Besides, why do you care? It's not like you like the human race. You're just a pissed off demon forced inside my prison like body."

'Familiar' Kyuubi growled.

"Who?" Naruto frowned. "Them?"

'Yes'

Naruto narrowed his eyes on the failing students. He took in everything he could see from their body size to their looks and the way they went about things. "How?"

'Familiar'

"How?" Naruto demanded angrily. Why was Kyuubi acting up? Normally the Fox let him be and only came out once in a while to fight battles Naruto was losing. They hated eachother. They gave eachother respect but at the first chance they could, both would kill the other.

There was no love between them. No friendly chats. Kyuubi only spoke when he felt danger or when he had information. He would make Naruto go through hell for that said information and he'd enjoy doing it.

'Look'

"I am." Naruto growled at the damn fox. What was he supposed to see... "They remind me of the clans." he whispered as he looked at Sasuke and then Itachi. "Uchiha?" he frowned as he turned to Neji. Who? "Hyuuga? Nara? Akimichi? Aburame? Yamanaka? Inuzuka? But what about the other three? Are they decendents?" but the damn fox stayed silent, the connection completely gone, meaning it had exhausted the fox to speak to him.

What did this mean? Could they be part of the most powerful clans that were part of Konoha? How was that possible? He knew Hinata and Hanabi were two of the final six Hyuugas alive. Hana was the only Inuzuka. Obito was one of three Uchihas. Shisui was the second who was now following Madara's orders. There were no Yamanakas, Naras, or Akimichis that he knew of. He wasn't to sure of the Aburame's though.

Neji could be explained as either of the Hyuuga girls great times many grandson or he could be a decendent of the other four Hyuuga's. Kiba could be a decendent of Hana. He resembled the girl. Naruto tried to picture him with the red fangs on his face. Sasuke and Itachi would be the same to either Obito or Shisui. Maybe even Madara himself. Maybe other clans survived and went on to have children, but if that were true, why didn't any of them fight to in the war? The only ones were Obito and the six Hyuuga's.

But what if Haku was right? What if they were in another world?

With a thoughtful look, he watched them all plus the other three and the more he saw, the more he was conviced that they had to be the children of past ancestors, or paralle versions of the clans people, but what did it mean?

"Enough." He called as he walked toward the group.

"So the great one decided to get off his branch and help us." Kiba mocked.

"Might as well shut that trap, you fangless dog." Naruto curled his lip and let his eyes bleed red. When Kiba gulped and took a step back Naruto went on. "Itachi and Sasuke, move over to the dead trees. Neji go by the bushes. Kiba go to the open field. Shino go toward the dirt hill. Choji toward the house. Ino toward that pile of weeds. Shikamaru head to the shadows created by the house. The rest of you stay here." Naruto ordered and when they only looked at Haku and Sai in confusion, he growled. "NOW!" just like that, they ran to their places.

"What are you doing?" Haku asked.

"Training them. It's what you wanted right?" Naruto lifted his brow.

"Why?" Sai asked.

"Because, if we go back to the past or our world, they are coming with us." Naruto answered and created seven clones and sent them each off.

"With us?"

"It's what they were born to do. We need shinobis and they just voluntered." Naruto answered and walked off. And if he was right, then their side just got eight more clan members from every branch of Konoha to fight for their side. "Train these three." he ordered over his shoulder. He'd take care of the clan members. He knew their technique best, after all, he studied them to the best of his abilities.

"We did want him to help." Sai acknowledge, watching Naruto.

"Take them home?" Haku frowned. "It sounds logical but why would Naruto wish to train them out of the blue? He was against this."

"Who knows but as Hinata says, it is destiny." Sai shrugged. "Let's begin training these three. We'll use half of your and half of my training past and combined them, as we have been doing. Maybe this time we'll get somewhere."

"Alright." Haku nodded and turned toward the remaining three.

: G : H :

Naruto and his clones stood in front of each of the eight watching him with wary eyes. Looking them up and down he wondered why he didn't put the clans and them together. With a blank stare he said, "Build your chakra."

He watched as they all attempted and barley passed. "Enough." he ordered. "I'm going to show you exactly why you are having trouble. You are learning from great shinobis but they don't see your faults like I do. Copy everything I do."

For the rest of the day he trained all of them. Haku had asked that he take over the other three since they were picking up faster what Naruto was teaching then what they were. He saw their faults and realized the problems before they attempted anything and fixed it. Even things Haku couldn't see, he found. Haku thought that maybe it was because Naruto had done the same when he was first learning and knew what to look for.

Haku and Sai grinned at one another as Naruto went to teaching like a natural. By the end of the day, the students were exhausted but able to draw a decent amount of chakra that Naruto deemed worthy enough to allow them to sleep.

The next few weeks, they woke up before the sun rose and were forced to go train again. Naruto had put their school lessons on hold and told them if they left, he drag them back. The same was said with their jobs. Itachi had protested saying that they needed money to keep the place. Naruto scoffed and sent Sai to find money. While he was training them, he was also fixing up the dreadful place they deemed a house. Haku was helping with that as well. The outside still looked like garbage but the inside was getting fixed and starting to look like it once did. It seemed all those D-ranked mission of Naruto's past were of use.

Then out of nowhere, Naruto had them use weapons that he had hiding in one of the many scrolls he carried.

"Toss it with ease, release it here and let if fly." he said as they all tossed the kunais or shurikens. To his surprise Tenten took to that practice right away. Naruto had Haku teach Tenten the basics of weapons since her chakra control, like the others, was genin level. He could have showed her but he wanted to focus on the others. He had Sai teach Lee taijutsu, since he wasn't picking up anything involving the other jutsus. Lee had cried since he deemed himself a failure. Naruto finally got fed up with the youthful speeches and told Lee he'd train him the next day. After that Lee was all too happy to go off with a wide eye Sai.

Naruto faced his remaining studends. "I'm going to up your level now. From here on out it will be more difficult, but no matter what, you can't give up. What I am giving you, you must learn as quickly as possible. It takes a lifetime to learn this, but we do not have that much time. Understood."

"Yes." the others nodded quickly.

"Good. This is what we are going to do, most of you will learn to master a kekkai genkai." Naruto said watching their eyes go wide in shock.

"Really?" Sasuke asked excitedly. Finally he would be able to impress Naruto with everything he'd be learning and a kekkei genkai at that. He knew from the three that a kekkei genkai was rare and that no one else could use it outside the clan for the most part. He hoped he picked up one that Naruto would be so in awe with that he'd focus all of his attention on him. "Wait, I thought you had to be of a certain clan or something to get one?"

"You do." Naruto nodded and then pulled out a scroll tied to his waist. Unrolling the scroll, he placed it on the rock beside him and with a few hand signs and a poof of smoke a giant scroll appeared. "Itachi and Sasuke, both of you will study this from beginning to end. This is everything I know on the Uchiha clan," Naruto waited to see if that name would ring a bell but he got nothing.

He knew all of the 'students' he had taken on used the old man's last name that had given them the house. He didn't know what it was nor did he care.

Giving the scroll to Itachi he turned back to the scroll on the rock. "This, like the other scrolls I'm going to give you all, has jutsus, history, and anything you will need to know on the clan in question. Neji, you will take the Hyuuga scroll. Shikamaru, you get the Nara. Ino you get the Yamanaka. Shino, you get the Aburame. Kiba, you get the Inuzuka scroll." now he needed to send out his chakra and clones to see if he could find a dog and some bugs that would work with chakra. "Choji, you get the Akimichi scroll. Go and study them. You have only one week to memorize them."

"Naruto?" Sakura blushed when the others left to do as told. "What do I get?"

"You get this scroll." he said pulling out another slightly smaller one. "This was everything I knew from the Fifth Hokage. You remind me of her." Naruto gave her the scroll and watched her run off with a squeal.

Shaking his head in annoyance he sat in the lotus position and began to meditate. Ignoring everything around him, he sent out his chakra to find the dog he needed and bugs that would be able to assist Shino and Kiba. He knew the bugs were given to an Aburame as a young infant, but he was hoping his chakra mixing with Kyuubi's and now Shino's would be able to fix that. He'd have to drag Kyuubi's chakra out, but he'd do anything to make sure the bugs connected. He knew it might hurt for the first few days after the bugs entered his body, but after that, things would go smoothly.

: G : H :

A week later, Naruto stood as Haku sat behind him on one of the chairs, Itachi had given him and Sai sat beside Haku on the floor as he painted in his sketch book that Sakura had given him.

In front of him, sitting on the somewhat dried grass was everyone that he hoped would save what was left of his world.

"I have a question." Kiba said raising his hand as if he was in school.

"Yes?" Naruto raised his brow.

"Okay in this scroll," Kiba started looking down at the scroll in his lap, "It says the Inuzukas work with dogs... I don't have a dog. I'm not sure I even want one."

"That is being taken care of." Naruto stated.

"And it says they have clan markings...but it doesnt say how you get it."

"That is also being taken care of. Same with your style, Shino."

"I... Okay." Shino gulped. "It's weird to think bugs will be crawling through my body and living in me."

"You will get used to it. Now..." Tilting his head toward the side, he closed his eyes and focused on the chakra coming closer. "It seems my clones have found your pets." he said and everyone turned to watch three clones appear. One with a white dog in hand and the others each carrying glass tanks filled with millions of bugs. It was a small amount, but Naruto knew they'd mulitply quickly.

"Fun." Shino shivered as the clones got closer.

"Hey, it could be worse... You could have had to use... I got nothing." Kiba admitted.

"Kiba get the dog. The rest of you go train with what you know. Haku and Sai will watch you and help you if needed. Shino come with me."

: G : H :

Shino layed flat on his back as five Narutos stood around him. Four of which held his arms and legs down.

"I won't lie. This will hurt, but it will benefit you in the end." Naruto admitted.

"Are you sure this is my..." Shino froze as Naruto held one of the glass tanks above him.

"Yes. There is no mistake." Naruto said. "Do you trust me?"

"I... yes." Shino nodded and closed his eyes tightly. Minutes later he was screaming and begging for Naruto to stop. No matter what he tried, he couldn't break free. The bugs were digging into his skin and forcing their tiny bodies everywhere. It was like someone decided to send burning needles through every inch of his body.

: G : H :

Naruto put the last tank down. His clones had their chakra focused on the bugs, ordering the insects to crawl and find shelter in Shino's trembling body. He lost his voice hours ago and now silently cried dry tears. Using Kyuubi's chakra forcefully, he sent the bugs a picture of what he wanted.

Finally after a few dead insects and forming brusies on Shino's body, it was done. Dispelling his clones he picked up the unconcious Shino, and exited the basement on the ruined side of the house. He knew it had been almost three weeks since he had last seen the others in person.

"Is he okay?" Haku asked running to his side. "I heard the screaming-"

"It is done. They are building as we speak." Naruto answered and walked passed everyone else blocking his path to Shino's room. "He will wake in a few days. How has the training come?"

"They're catching on to the basics of what is needed. They have a goal in mind with certain jutsus they wish to accomplish but I think your influence would help them." Haku said as he opened the door to Shino's room.

"Kiba and the dog?"  
"Akamaru? They are inspereable. They have taken a liking to eachother very quickly and seem to communicate with a glance. Sakura is doing well with Tsunade's jutsus and Tenten is gifted with weapons. I told her you have a scroll filled with them and that you could give her one. I showed her how to summon from one of my scrolls but they don't carry as much as yours."

"Alright." Naruto placed Shino on the bed and covered him. Turning he followed Haku out and shut the door.

"Shikamaru picked up the shadow style quickly. He is a Nara through and through. Choji enjoys his. I think he enjoys eating though." Haku frowned.

"Ino is pushing herself harder to outdo Sakura." Sai said coming to meet them on the stairs. "The others are waiting for news on Shino down stairs."

"Why is she competing with Sakura?" Naruto asked not moving up or down.

"They're rivals. I believe it is good. Rivals push eachother to succeed." Sai said.

"Lee is fast. His taijutsu is amazing. If you pushed him, Naruto, he could be the fastest person alive after Gai or maybe he'll even out shine Gai. He keeps going on about the great Naruto sensei teaching him the amazing style of fighting and speed." Haku grinned. "I have him using weights like you do but I add on a few pounds every few days. I'm building up his muscle as much as possible without hurting him."

"What of the two Uchihas and the Hyuuga?" Naruto asked, already referring to them as the clans that which were theirs.

"Sasuke and Itachi are smart. They are already moving on to the second stage to try and force the Sharingan. We've been training all of them in weapons and basic styles. Telling them to improvise with what they are learning." Haku said. "Sasuke, Itachi, Neji, Sakura, and Shikamaru seem to pick up things the quickest. Neji is still trying to learn control over the Hyuuga style. He is pushing his limits to try and get their attacks. The Hyuuga style is tiring and I'm surprised he still stands at the end of the day."

"What of his eyes?" Naruto asked.

"Not quite. He almost had them the other day but something went wrong and he ended up hurting his eyes for a few days." Haku whispered. "I think it was because his eyes took in too much at one time that it made him ill."

"I'll take over again." Naruto said as he headed down stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

"Do it again." Naruto ordered Shino. Tiredly, the teen nodded and focused his chakra. It had been four days since Shino had aquired his bugs. In three of those days, he was unable to move. His body in too much pain with every movement. On the fourth day, though still in pain, Naruto had forced him out of bed and into training. He knew he was pushing them all beyond their limits. In only the short amount of time that he had been teaching them, they had already become genin level in everything. It helped that Itachi had them all learn one style of fighting or other.

He had pushed the others, but now that Shino had finally aquired the bugs, Naruto thought it was time to teach him first. The others were doing well for first timers, but today Naruto wanted to get Shino used to the bugs as they crawled under his skin and the pain that would come with it.

While the others sat back and watched, Naruto circled Shino's form with a finger on his chin and the other arm crossed over his chest. Slowly, Shino's chakra formed around him, to everyone else, there was nothing there, but to Naruto, he saw it all. He had trained himself to see any form of chakra being formed in front of him. "Call them."

Shino's eyes narrowed as his bare arms shook with strain, yet he didn't stop like he had done previously. Everytime he stopped, Naruto would push him harder. If he was a weaker teen, he would have cried. He was going to master this style if it killed him. Naruto had trusted him with the Aburame style and he wouldn't let him down. Taking a deep breath, Shino called the bugs within him to the surface of his body.

At first he felt nothing, but right behind that, he felt his skin crawling and then his arms and chest were covered in insects.

"Good." Naruto nodded as he continued to circle. "Keep holding them. Soon you'll be able to do this without trying. It'll be instinct."

Shino felt pleasure spread through his body. Ignoring the others shocked cries and disturbed looks, he kept calling the bugs and let them cover more and more of his body.

"This is your weapon." Naruto said standing behind him. "They are going to be what keep you alive. You are their home and they are your life. They only wait for your command." When a tan hand stretched out over Shino's shoulder, Naruto said, "Attack that tree. Visualize them swarming it, dissolving it. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Shino nodded and did as told. He saw the tree in his mind being attacked and broken down by the bugs all over his body. He saw the tree disappear beneath their tiny bodies. With a grin breaking across his face, Shino realized it wasn't in his mind anymore. The bugs were doing what he wanted them to.

It was just as the tree was half gone, that his concentration broke and the bugs came flying back. With a gasp of pain, he let them burrow into his body again and forced himself not to scratch.

In the background he heard cheering and barking but none of that mattered. Turning to Naruto he waited.

"Perfect." the blonde nodded and handed over a small case. "But no Aburame is complete without these." with another nod, Naruto turned and walked away.

"Man you looked so awesome!" Kiba shouted as Akamaru barked around him excitedly.

"I thought the bug style would be gross, but it's not. You're like king of the bugs!" Ino grinned giving him a kiss on his cheek. "I wish Naruto would train us like he did you." she pouted.

"He will." Haku said from the back of the crowd. "But it was best to start Shino off first. We need to get him used to them. The faster it's done, the faster he'll move on to the next stage."

"So do you know who he's going to train next?" Kiba asked hopefully. "I mean you're a good sensei and all, but-"

"I understand." Haku smiled gently. "If given the chance, I would have preferred him to a teacher as well. Enjoy your small break for I'm sure Naruto is alreadly planning the next student's progress." bowing to them, he walked off with Sai.

"What did he give you?" Sasuke asked once the three ninja were gone.

With a shrug, Shino opened the small case and blinked, "Sunglasses?" he frowned at the round frames looking up at him.

"Put them on." Tenten said.

With another shrug, Shino did as told. He'd never worn glasses before, but these felt natural. "How do I look?"

"Like a bug king." Choji joked.

: G : H :

"You did good, Naruto." Haku said coming up behind the blonde. "Shino is already ahead of the others. It's only a matter of time before he-"

"Do you think everyone is okay?" Naruto asked softly as he gazed into the cloudless sky. "Here we are training these people, and they are fighting a war."

"Naruto-"

"We are not teachers. We're fighters-"

"And yet what teachers take years to teach, you taught them in months." Haku stopped him and forced him to turn around. "Naruto, do you honestly think anyone else could have thought Shino to control the Aburame style in but a day?"

"Or take kekkai genkai and give them to anyone by chance, hoping you'd be right and finding out you are?" Sai questioned. "I would have never made the connection to the clans. I would have never even known how to teach them. I was failing as a teacher, as was Haku, but you... You are causing them to advance faster then I would have ever thought possible."

"But what of our comrads? Kakashi? Obito? The others? They are fighting a war and we go missing? What if they think we're dead as well?"

"Then when we come back, we'll prove them wrong." Haku stated calmly.

"What if..." Sai started and frowned.

"Sai?"

"What if the others we all thought dead... What if they are here as well? In this world but unlike us, they don't remember coming here or being of another life? Or what if they are trying to get home but unable to?"

"Then we take them back and win the war. There are a lot of shinobi that disappeared in this war. There will be a lot that will return and end this war that has gone on far longer then anyone can agree on." Naruto said. "Come on, let's finish today's lesson."

"Who's next?" Haku asked as they turned back.

"You will work with Shino, Haku. You have a kekkai genkai and know what is expected. Deep down, they are all the same in structure. It's as they build up do they change."

"Alright." Haku nodded.

"Get him to start attacking with them. Fight him if you must, but he will learn." Naruto went on. "Sai, I wish you to train Tenten this time. Your beast paintings will be good target practice as they come at her."  
"Of course." Sai nodded. "What of Lee?"

"Lee is going to run. I want him to pick up speed as fast as possible. He's going to be faster then Gai."

"We need something to run against." Sai said. "Otherwise, how do we know he's picking up speed?"

"Put triple the weight he has on now. Once he can move his body with ease, we know he's getting faster. Once he has out done himself in those, triple them again." Haku said knowing Naruto was thinking the same. "And who are you going to train next?"

Looking at their students laughing and watching Shino call his bugs with ease, Naruto's eyes narrowed on one person. "Ino."

: G : H :

As the others trained with clones of Naruto's, Ino sat panting tiredly on the floor. How was she supposed to get in Naruto's mind? Naruto had told her to focus on him alone and to toss herself into his head. She knew the Yamanaka clan was all about mind powers, but she wasn't sure it was possible.

Sure Shino may have controlled bugs in front of her eyes, but... mind tricks?

"Why do you give up?" Naruto questioned as he looked down at her. "Didn't you wish to learn this technique? Didn't you wish to be a shinobi?"

"Ye-yes." Ino nodded as her body heaved. Why was she so exhausted? She did nothing but concentrate on Naruto's head. It wasn't like she was running around the property like Lee, or trying to run in his case. The new weights made walking impossible for him.

"Then try again." Naruto ordered and waited until she looked up at him. "Find what is in my head. Control my body with your mind alone. Send me a word or thought."

"I don't know how!" Ino shouted as she punched the ground. "I don't know how to do it!"

"You are afraid." Naruto stated.  
"No."  
"Your fear keeps you from doing what you must. If this is the case, you are pointless. I will not teach a student that does not wish to learn or fears learning."

Ino watched in shock as Naruto walked away from her. He was giving up on her? Leaving her because she couldn't... Hell no! With anger eating at her, she put her hands into position and focused on him. He was not leaving her to train someone else. She would learn this and he was going to help. She wasn't going to let Sakura outshine her. With narrowed eyes, Ino watched as Naruto stopped mid step. "You have to train me!" She yelled as he turned around and walked back to her. "I need you to train me!" it was eating at her to learn. "You will train me!"

"I already am." Naruto smirked. "Not bad."  
"What?" Ino blinked in confusion as her hands fell to her side.

"Do you think I came back willingly?" Naruto questioned. "Sure I could have fought you, but I wish you to learn."

"I... you...what?"

"You used your first technique on me. It's called Mind Distration Jutsu." Naruto said as he crouched down in front of her. "You took control over my body, a bit sloppy, but with practice you will get better. If you can do that, you can take over their mind or speak to them without saying a word."

"I did my first technique?" Ino whispered as her eyes went wide.

"Ye-" Naruto started only to be knocked over by the excited blonde teen. On his back, Naruto could only blink in surprise as Ino sat on him and screamed that she did her first technique.

"This is interesting." Sai commented as he walked their way.

"What are you doing!" Sasuke glared as his eyes refused to leave Ino. How dare she! He already told everyone that Naruto was off limits! Damn it Ino!

"I did my first tec-"

"We've heard, the only question is why are you still sitting on Naruto!" Sasuke glared angrily, wanting to strangle her.

"What?" Ino blinked and looked down at an annoyed Naruto. Going beat red, she mumbled a quick apology and jumped off as if he was made of fire.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked helping Naruto to his feet. Was Ino trying to get fresh with his guy? Well not his guy yet, but soon.

"I am fine." Naruto nodded and dusted the dirt off.

"This calls for a celebration." Sakura giggled at the jealousy she saw in Sasuke's face. "We are going out!"

"Out? Why? Aren't we out already?" Sai frowned in confusion.

"Because, hello, two of us just accomplished two different styles, sort of. That is a means for celebration."

"We will-"  
"Hush." Sakura said holding a finger up to stop Naruto from speaking. "I know you love training and want us to get stronger, but we are going to celebrate. Tonight we are going clubbing."

"What is clubbing?" Haku grinned as Naruto blinked in surprise at Sakura.

"Fun." Tenten said. "Someone go get Lee. Everyone else, let's go get ready!"

As they made their way to the house, Naruto frowned at Haku but before he could say anything, he was pulled away by Sasuke to go get dressed.


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

"Are these things safe?" Naruto frowned at the building filled with hundreds of people and loud music. Like himself, they were all wearing tight forms of leather and revealing shirts. Sasuke had told him it was the style. How an open-long-sleeved-buttoned-up-black shirt and low riding black leather pants were the latest fashion, was beyond him. Haku seemed out of his element as he kept messing with his fishnet covering his arms and his slim chest. Sai, himself, went without a shirt.

"Probably not," Sasuke admitted as he held on to his arm to keep him from getting lost, as the raven put it, "But they're fun." Sasuke grinned, moving closer to his side. Surely he would have enough sense not to get lost, Naruto thought, all he had to do was move to higher ground or backtrack and find his way home.

"I cannot hear myself think!" Sai shouted in his ear. "Do you think it is some form of sound attack on our ears?"

"No, it's the speakers attack!" Sakura grinned as she and Ino latched on to both of his arms. "Come on!" Before Sai could stop them, both girls were pulling him into the crowd with the others quickly behind him.

"Itachi says we must let go and have fun," Haku got out and then was pulled to the dance floor by said raven.

"What are they doing?"

"Dancing," Sasuke answered Naruto's question.

"It looks like they are having sex."

"In a way they are." Sasuke smirked, "Let's not keep them waiting."

Without another word, Naruto found himself pressed tightly against Sasuke's back, the raven's hands around his neck. When a hand turned his face, Naruto met his dance partner's dark gaze. "Don't look at them," Sasuke mouthed. "Look at me." Doing as told, Naruto began to mimic every thing Sasuke did. Their bodies pressing against one another.

They danced long after their friends left to get something to drink, neither of them noticing anyone but the other. Neither of them noticing how much closer their faces had gotten or their breaths mingling. Or how their eyelids began to lower in anticipation.

Inches before their mouths could touch, Naruto jerked back. Before Sasuke could glare at the unjustice of it all, he found himself being pulled, Naruto's arm around his waist, toward the back of the club. People were being shoved aside as the blonde bulldozed his way through the crowd.

"Naruto?" Sasuke shouted trying to get the blonde's attention. Sure he almost kissed him but it didn't mean he was ready for sex! Did people in his time jump from an almost kiss to full blown fucking? "Naruto!" he shouted when they got to the edge of the people and to a staircase.

"Hold on," Naruto said, picking him up bridestyle. With a gasp, Sasuke clutched onto the blonde as Naruto jumped down the zig-zagging staircase. Closing his eyes tightly, he waited for the impact that would claim their lives. "Are you alright?" Naruto asked him seconds later.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sasuke said shakily as Naruto let him down. "What are we doing down here? And why did you jump... how many floors down?"

"I believe it was five floors beneath the surface." Naruto answered, looking around. With his hand now in Sasuke's, he began to lead him down the empty hallway, "It was faster than walking."

"What are we doing down here?"

"Searching," Naruto said opening doors, that lead to empty rooms, on both side of the hallway.

"For?" Sasuke was beginning to doubt this was about sex. If Naruto wanted to do it, he could have taken them into the first room they looked into.

"The pulse of chakra," Haku said from behind them. Turning, Sasuke found Itachi, Sai, Shino and Neji. "The others are running down the stairs," Haku said when Sasuke couldn't find anyone else. "They were too afraid to jump."

"What chakra pulse?" Sasuke asked, "How did you guys make it down here?"

"Haku helped me," Itachi said.

"Bugs," Shion answered.

"Sai grabbed me around the waist and jumped," Neji glared at the pale raven.

"You were in my way," Sai smiled his signiture smile. "Do all clubs have something like this? Stairs beneath the ground?"

"Most clubs are what you see is what you get," Itachi shook his head, "I didn't even know this one went this far down... Makes me wonder what the other clubs look like."

"Do you feel it?" Haku asked moving to walk behind Sasuke. At first Sasuke was confused, why didn't Haku just walk beside Naruto? Then he realized that, a) he was blocking Haku, and b) he was still holding Naruto's hand.

Unable to decide if he should feel embarrassed or not, Sasuke just left his hand in the tan grip.

"The one from beneath the surface." Naruto said opening another door. "I sense it down here faintly, but I can't place it."

"I only felt it when it spiked, then followed you." Haku said.

"Same here," Sai answered. "The others saw us running and they followed."

"It doesn't matter," Naruto said trying another door. "Sasuke can you call forth your eyes?"

"The Sharingan?" Sasuke questioned and at Naruto's nod, he shook his head, "I can't."  
"Itachi?" Naruto asked the other.

"No." Itachi shook his head, flushing slightly. No matter what he tried, he couldn't call them forth.

"Neji?" at the way he said Neji's name, everyone could hear the frustration in the blonde's voice.

"I can try." Neji said. "I mean, it works but it hurts."

Stopping as the hallway forked into four other ones, Naruto released Sasuke and beckoned Neji forward. Placing an arm on Neji's shoulder, Naruto tilted Neji's head to meet his gaze. Though Naruto was helping the pale eyed teen, Sasuke couldn't stop the small fit of jealousy. Shaking it off, he turned his gaze from one to the other.

"Look at me and no one else. Focus on me." Naruto said.

"I've tried this and it doesn't work. Haku had me-" Neji started but was cut off as Naruto placed a hand over his mouth.

"Look at me and shut up." Naruto said and waited for Neji to nod. "The Byakugan can be accessed by a Hyuga at any time. Now focus on me." when Neji continued to look at him, Naruto went on, "When you call your eyes, keep looking into my own. Focus on me."

Neji took a breath. He had done this before. He had called his eyes and felt as if he would go blind. Taking another breath he closed his eyes and said, "Byakugan!"

Expecting the pain that came when he opened his eyes, Neji slowly opened them and gasped at the brightness.

"Focus on me!" Naruto hissed cupping his face. Slowly things went into focus and became less pained.

"It's working," Neji gasped softly.

"Good, now turn your head slowly. It only hurts you more because you are not used to this. If you use them frequently, it'll get better and you'll see more."

Slowly Neji turned his head, with Naruto's help.

"Tell me what you see." Naruto ordered. "Just focus down this hallway."

"Nothing. It's dark." Neji said looking down the first one.

"Keep going."

"There's something down there." Neji said looking down the third hallway.

"Then that's where we're going." Naruto said and ran a hand gently over Neji's eyes to help him return to his normal sight. "Good job." with a nod, he took off running down the third hallway with Haku and Sai quickly behind him. Sasuke turned to Itachi, who shrugged and pulled the neon glowstick from around Shino's neck to drop on the floor, to signal what path they had taken to the others.

"Let's go." Itachi said running after the first three.

: G : H :

Naruto skidded to a stop as a door appeared. Reaching out one hand he reached for the knob and pulled back. "What is this?" he frowned as grains of sand stuck to his fingers. "Why is there sand here?"

"There's only one way to find out," Sai frowned, reaching for his scroll only to realize he left it at home along with all of his things. Looking from Haku to Naruto, he realized they were in the same condition. Both bare of their weapons. "Do any of you have anything to fight with?"

"These," Haku said pulling two senbon free from his hair.

"No," Naruto frowned. "We'll rely on taijutsu and jutsus if needed."

"Taijutsu for me then," Sai frowned. "I do not have my scroll."

"This is the last time that we let them drag us anywhere with nothing."

"Agreed," Haku answered. "When you're ready, Naruto."

With a nod, Naruto reached for the door again. Before he could take a step in, sand sent him flying back and into the other two.

"Look Mother, won't they make you happy?" came a raspy voice from within.


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted when he saw the blonde flying. Moving passed his brother, Sasuke practically flew to the shinobi's side. Falling beside him, he reached out his hand to check him over. "Naruto, are you alright?"

"Stay back, Sasuke," Naruto ordered, pushing Sasuke back as he, Haku, and Sai stood. "You, what are you?"

"I am my Mother's child." the other chuckled. "My Mother wishes for your blood."

"Then she can keep wishing," Haku stated, moving to the front of the group. With his senbon poised and ready, Haku began to lead the other two into the room. "Our blood is hard to draw."

"But is theirs?" came the instant reply as sand came flying out.

"Don't just stand there!" Naruto shouted toward the four simply standing there in stunned silence.  
With a jolt, Shino quickly moved in front of the other three and called his bugs in front of him. Focusing on his chakra, he ignored the itchy feeling as the bugs crawled through his skin, and imagine a wall forming between them and the sand. With a grunt, he held the wall, both palms faced up. Seconds after the last bug took it's place, the sand hit hard. "It's breaking." he gasped. "The sand is coming through."

"Hold it until Naruto and the other two take care of it." Sasuke said, wishing he could help but knowing he couldn't really do anything. "Don't let it fall."

"What are you?" Sai asked, dodging the wave of sand.

"Power like this is impossible to have," Naruto said to the unknown. "Tell me what beast you carry?"

"My Mother." The voice answered. "My Mother wishes your blood."

"For the last time, you will not gain it." Sai stated boredly. The majority of his attacks was taken from him. Right now he wanted to kill their so called students for making him leave what was never separated from his body. All he had was taijutsu.

"If he carries a beast, then he is the missing one." Haku stated.

"The one not captured you mean?" Naruto grunted, as he tried to run into the room.

"Exactly." Haku said, attacking with his ice spears. "I'll make an entrance and you run through."

"Done."

"Sai-"

"I'll do what I can." Sai said, barely avoiding another wave of sand.

"GO!" Haku shouted, making a tunnel of ice for Naruto to run through.  
Without waiting to be told twice, Naruto sped through the opening, barely making it through before the ice broke behind him.

Once in, the sand seemed to stop and surround the walls. Turning his head, Naruto found a teenager standing in the center of the room. He wore nothing but a pair of jeans. Sand rained down his body, only to fly into the swirl of sand in the air and back toward him.

"The only one I know that can use sand is the one tailed." Naruto said, letting the nine tailed chakra leak out, pulling more as Kyuubi pushed it. He knew the teen felt it with the way his eyes widen in shock before a cruel smirk spread acrossed his face.

"Mother is pleased with your power." The boy grinned as his hand moved outward, toward Naruto. "Give it to us."

"It took me years to gain this power," Naruto stated, concentrating around his body, "I'm not going to give it up so easily." Not wanting to drag on this battle, he released the chakra in a sonic roar, sending the red head flying backward. With a crack, sounding like pots breaking, Naruto watched the sand fall around the room. Pulling his chakra back, he barely had enough time to cover his head before the sand came crashing down, burying him beneath.

"Naruto!" he heard someone shout, "Naruto!"

The next thing he knew someone was dragging him out of the sand.

"Naruto!" he heard Sasuke shout, "Naruto!"

"I'm fine." he got out, sitting up and leaning against the young raven. "Are you guys alright?"

"We're okay." Neji anwered. "Shino kept his bug wall up."

"I got hit with a sand fist," Sai offered as he ran a hand over his chest.

"Is he alive?" Haku asked, moving over the sand and toward the boy with red hair.

"I didn't hit him that hard." Naruto stated.

"Just making sure." Haku shrugged as he moved closer to the unconscious teen. "I don't remember him. Though I know of the missing one, I don't remember his face."

"If he disappeared from our world and appeared here, I highly doubt we'd remember him." Sai answered. Moving passed Haku, he reached for the red head and lifted him as if he weighed nothing. "Let's get back to the house, we can tie him with chakra wire there." Turning to look at Itachi he said, "If this is how you do 'clubbing' I do not enjoy it. Why would anyone wish to be attacked without being prepared?"  
"That's not what clubbing-is." Shino finished quietly as Sai and Naruto stalked passed them. When Haku sighed and shook his head, he said, "Haku, this doesn't normally happen. I-"

"It does not matter. Clubbing is far too dangerous to be clubbing without anything. Naruto, Sai, and myself were at a disadvantage. If we were any weaker, we would be dead." Haku said as he stalked passed him.

"Itachi..."

"We'll let them simmer down some." Itachi reasurred Shino. "Come on, lets go home."

: G : H :

Once more, Naruto rode on the thing called a subway, the whole time glaring at the others when they tried to make converstation. This was stupid of them. There was a reason a shinboi didn't have fun. They had to be prepared for everything. Why they thought that this world would be any different then their own, he wasn't sure. Though the one tailed holder wasn't strong enough to kill them and was easily taken out, Naruto did not like relying on jutsus alone to survive. To rely on one thing for too long was stupid. One only had so much chakra and the chakra he had used for the attack tonight was a lot, especially with the trouble he was having trying to breach the wall with Kyuubi. Since the first day, it had become harder to reach the fox, making even small imprints on their minds hard to feel.

Attacks that strong came with a price. And his price was catching up with him. What would happen if they were attacked again? He'd be another burden to his team.

"Naruto, clubbing isn't normally like this." Sasuke said from beside him. "We don't normally fight for our lives in clubs."

Instead of answering, Naruto sent him a look that shut Sasuke up right away. Turning his head toward his brother, Sasuke sent him a shrug. In return, Itachi sighed and tried once more to explain what clubbing was and what usually happened to Haku, who was just as uncooperative as Naruto. How did their night of fun turn into all of this?


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

**Look toward profile/bio for disclaimer and anything else involving this story.**

"Who was the missing one? What was his name?" Naruto asked, running a frustrated hand through his hair, pulling sharply at the ends. For three days he had left the training of his students in Haku's and Sai's hands. For those three days he had watched over their captive, trying to place him in his own world. Who was this boy? This teenager? What was his name? What village did he come from? He knew the other seven, the names of the people that carried the beast. He knew where they came from, their history, their talents, their weaknesses and strengths. He knew everything about their beast, but for the life of him, he could not remember the first's container. He knew of Shukaku, the blood thirsty one tail, but not of his holder.

Turning his eyes toward the boy sealed tightly within a cage Haku had created from ice, Naruto tried once more to place him. He had red hair, pale skin. His eyes were some shade of green. The need for sleep was as plain as day, the black circles telling Naruto that. There was no seal that he could see on the teen, no birthmark, there was nothing on the boy.

With a sigh, he leaned back against the farthest wall, his hands hanging limply at his side. "Tell me what I need to know. Tell me what you know. Your beast has the answers I need. Tell me if this is the future or something else. Tell me."

: G : H :

"Try forcing Sakura to move at your will." Haku told Ino again. Since Naruto had locked himself away with their prisoner, Haku had put it upon himself to train Ino and Shino. Both already had a bit of control of their kekkai genkai. Sai had decided to help the others build theirs, to try and force it out of them, but at the moment all of them were taking a very much wanted break as they watched Ino practice.

"I'm trying." Ino huffed, unable to do anything. She felt stupid standing there with her hands in there stupid placement. She almost wanted to give up, to just toss in the towel and say that whatever happened last time was just Naruto being nice. There was no way she could control a body that wasn't hers. Trying to get into Sakura's head was impossible. Trying to make the girl sit down felt like a waste of time. Every move Sakura made, created a hopeful feeling in Ino, but soon faded when she realized that it wasn't her doing.

"Concentrate." Haku said calmly, hiding his emotions behind a gentle face. "Push your will onto hers. Make her your puppet. Make her do what you want. You are the master in this."

"It's not working!" Ino snapped, dropping her hands to her waist. "I can't control another person. I think Naruto just pretended for my-"

"Naruto would not pretend just for the sake of your emotions." Sai cut her off. "Naruto wouldn't waste his time in such a way."

"You are a Yamanaka." Haku said.

"I'm not a Yama whatever." Ino snapped. "I'm Ino Joumae. We are all Joumaes!"

"Ino, calm down. Maybe you-" Sakura started.

"Shut up!" Ino snapped. "I'm tired of this. I done. I've tried and tried but nothing is happening. In fact, all of us but Shino have tried and tried but we can't do anything. What's to say Shino's even doing anything? It could all be mind tricks or something. Hello! Neji's vision gets better? Yeah, more like you probably give him some kind of powder that hurts his eyes. Sakura can't even heal a scrape on her knee, much less save a life."

"Ino-" Itachi tried, but Ino just went on.

"Lee isn't getting faster, he can barely walk with those weights! Tenten has good aim but woop-dee-doo, she's always been good at stuff like that. And that shadow thing Shikamaru does? Why is he only good when the shadows shifts across the ground with the sun? All Choji is doing is eating, he's just going to get fat and sick. Sasuke and Itachi can't even use this Shargana or whatever the hell that is! Kiba just got a dog that probably has flees!" She shouted in Haku's face.

The silence that followed unnerved her, but no one seemed inclined to break it. Haku just watched her blankly as Sai looked ready to kill her, the rage in his face hiding little of what he felt.

"Is that what you believe?" Haku asked quietly. "Do you really believe that you are nothing but a Joumae? A girl adopted by this old man along with everyone here?"

"Yeah." Ino said, lifting her chin, waiting for whatever else he said.

"Is that what all of you believe?" Haku asked. "Are we really wasting our time on useless things?" when no one said anything, Haku shook his head.

"Perhaps we are wasting our time, Leader-sama." Sai said, his body as stiff as a board, his emotions undercontrol once more. "Perhaps it's time we leave and try to find a way home. Naruto was right in the beginning, we should not have changed his mind. We have comrads in need of our aid."

"You're right," Haku nodded, looking Ino square in the eyes, "Tell me if you believe what you see when you see what we do?"

"For all I know it could be magic tricks." Ino said with less certainty.

"Magic?" Haku smiled softly, but the smile didn't go with his eyes. "I remember those days. I remember when what I thought I could do was _magic_. I was so happy with myself and I showed my mother. Instead of being in awe of my _magic_, she slapped me and told me to never do it again. The next morning, my father brought the village to kill me. In fear, my _magic _took over and a lot of people died."

"I'm sorry." Ino said with little else to say.

"Why should you be? You didn't use my _magic_ to kill my village." Haku said evenly as he turned away from her.

"What did you do after?" Neji asked him.

"I realized that _magic_ wasn't real and I grew up." Haku answered. "Somedays I wish I could go back to those days though. To be so innocent and naive, but then I remember I'm no longer a child who needs childrens words to describe the world to me."

: G : H :

"Naruto?" Haku called into the room as the door opened, revealing a darken room with a single tiny window.

"I can't reach Kyuubi long enough to get him to rouse the one tail." Naruto panted tiredly as he rested on his knees. "I call him but when we try to connect to Shukaku, our connection breaks."

"What do you want us to do?" Haku asked, looking the red haired boy over.

"I don't know. I... I can't remember." Naruto said in confusion. What was he trying to do? Why was he in here?

"Naruto?" Haku said, coming to kneel beside him. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine... I'm tired. I need to sleep, you know?" Naruto answered as he tried to focus. Why did he have a memory lapse? He had never done that before. He knew his self made mission. It was too... What was he supposed to be doing?

"Yes of course. Why don't you sleep, I'll watch him and when he wakes, I'll send for you."

"Yeah, okay. I'll do that." Naruto nodded, heading out of the room with aid from Sai. When they made it to the room he shared with Itachi and Sasuke, Sai layed him down. "Thank you,"

"Of course." Sai nodded. "Just rest and then tomorrow we'll start again."

"Again?" Naruto questioned, "Oh yeah, right. Again."

When Sai left, Naruto turned on his side. Curling his arms around himself he repeated everything he knew. Every mission he had ever done. Every person he met. Every name he could remember. Every jutsu he had ever learned. Every password he had memorized. When he started the loop over six hours later for the third time, the list of things he remembered was slowly getting shorter.

: G : H :

"Haku?" Itachi called, knocking on the door the shinobi was in. "Haku, may I come in?" Getting no answer, Itachi turned the knob, unease spreading over his body. "Haku, are you in here?" he asked walking in quickly, pausing when water met his bare toes. Flicking a lamp on, he gasped as he saw the red haired shinobi free, still unconsicous in the center of the liquid. How did that happen? Naruto said Haku's prison was impossible to break free of, especially with the seals Naruto made. "Haku what happened?" he asked, moving quickly to Haku's side. Shaking the other's shoulder, he called Haku's name again. "Haku, answer me!" he demanded when Haku had yet to look his way.

With a blink, Haku seemed to come back to himself and when the other's eyes collided with his own, Itachi was waiting for an explanation. Instead what he got was, "What's going on? Where am I?"

: G : H :

"Sai!" Ino called to the pale raven as he moved into the kitchen with everyone minus Itachi, Haku, and Naruto. "Look, I know what I said was wrong. I was frustrated with myself and I took it out on you and Haku." She went on, moving from her spot at the table, leaving her untouched food alone. "I didn't mean it. I'm not a child no matter how I act. I'm willing to try again and again until I get it right. Please, I'm begging you. Please train me again."

With a blank face, Sai continued to stare at her, not seeing any of the others eyes on them.

"Look, I was an idiot, I'm sorry." Ino tried again, feeling guilt eat at her again. "None of us believe what I said earlier. I know what you three do is amazing and real. It's not magic or some kind of trick. I've never thought that. Please don't give up on me. Don't give up on us. Please train us."

As everyone held their breath, waiting for his answer, Sai opened his mouth and said, "Train you? What am I training you for?"


End file.
